Nearly every child has enjoyed the optical designs created by a kaleidoscope. These devices ordinarily contain loose bits of colored glass or plastic between two flat transparent plates. Two planes mirrors are positioned so that changes in the configuration of the glass particles are reflected in endless procession of variegated designs.
Various examples of kaleidoscopes are present in the prior art. For example, in Dougall, U.S. Pat. No. 984,198, the patentee teaches the use of a tube having a cross-section in the form of a polygon with three or more sides. Each side of the polygon has a mirrored surface and the design imparted to the viewer by the kaleidoscope is produced by means of bits of colored paper arranged on discs placed over the outer end of the tube. The end of the tube being furthest away from the eye being denominated the outer end of the tube. These discs are held in place by means of a detachable plate holder consisting of a strip of spring metal having clamping jaws attached to the outer end of the tube.
A similar kaleidoscope may be found in Lovibond, U.S. Pat. No. 407,937. Here the patentee substitutes for the irregularly-shaped multi-colored pieces of glass, ordinarily employed, discs that are independently movable by a rolling motion. Thus designs of great variety are formed and are capable of being reproduced and repeated at will.
Both prior art articles exhibit the traditional kaleidoscope, i.e., the changeability of the design is due to the rotation or the shifting of plates on the outer end of the device. More recent articles have, to some extent, abandoned the simplistic designs of the past and incorporated a sphere which travels the length of the tube. An example of this type device may be found in Flotron, U.S. Pat. No. 2,452,363. Flotron discloses the use of a tubular body having a plurality of internally reflective planar surfaces. Once the tube has been assembled, designs are formed when it is held a slight distance away from an ornamental pictorial surface thus producing a plurality of images. The glass marble is held within the tube and is permitted to rotate in any direction. This rotation provides a quasi-kaleidoscopic effect which may be varied by careful selection of the target material. Beverett, U.S. Pat. No. 3,237,512, incorporates into his kaleidoscope, a tube in which the mirrored sections have a trapezoidal shape so that the ball is held suspended above the base by two sides of the trapezoid. The ball spins rapidly as it slowly traverses the length of the device, thus it appears to the viewer that the ball is suspended in mid-air within the toy.
The common denominator of each of these prior art patents is utilization of an inner mirrored surface polygonic in shape be it either three, four or more sides. One patent incorporating a circular tubular kaleidoscope is Beverett, U.S. Pat. No. 3,242,799. Here, however, the reflected patterns emanate from spinning circumrotating marbles instead of from loose or disembedded fragments. The marbles do not traverse the length of the kaleidoscope. An additional kaleidoscopic device is disclosed in Powers, U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,150.